Glen Cove $6.9 million spending plan covers repairs to city golf course

The Glen Cove City Council has passed a $6.9 million capital spending plan, part of an effort to address the city’s crumbling infrastructure, officials said.

The budget outlines a series of projects, including $2.6 million to acquire and install a new golf course irrigation system, $500,000 for stormwater infrastructure improvements, $368,000 to purchase emergency medical service equipment and $221,000 to restore a city-owned parking garage, according to city documents.

Officials said county and state grants will reimburse the city for $617,000 of the capital costs.

Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck said at the City Council meeting last Tuesday that the road map sets a multiyear plan to “repair, improve and invest in the city's deteriorated infrastructure, which has been problematic for so many years.”

The spending plan allocates $2.9 million to the city’s golf course, $2.4 million to the city’s Department of Public Works, $1.4 million to emergency services and $240,000 to other city services, officials said.

Democratic Councilwoman Danielle Fugazy-Scagliola said at the meeting she was “glad that we’re taking care of some things that are in desperate need of fixing,” including the golf course and drainage near Woolsey Avenue.

Panzenbeck said the golf course, founded in 1972 and located on Lattingtown Road, is in desperate need of funding.

“It is time, there’s no way any of this can wait,” Panzenbeck said. “If we wait any longer, we won’t have a golf course.”

Spiro Tsirkas, the city’s director of Youth Services and Recreation, said the golf course’s current sprinkler system is about a half-century old and is riddled with issues. The city can’t turn on specific zones and has to empty the entire system to fix a single sprinkler head, he said.

“It’s a headache,” Tsirkas said in a phone interview.

Temporary repairs were made to the course for the summer golf season, with funding allocated from the city’s 2025 operating budget. The new irrigation system is expected to be installed beginning in the fall, Tsirkas said, which would allow the course to reopen next year.

“It’s a process, but we’re on the right track,” he said.

Last October, Glen Cove was removed from the state comptroller’s financial “stress” list for the first time since 2017, Newsday reported.

The change in designation was due to the three consecutive years of a surplus in the city’s operating budget, officials said at the time. Earlier in the year, Moody’s Ratings upgraded Glen Cove’s credit rating.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ